The Rose
by When the Sun Rises
Summary: You will lose many things in life. When you lose too much, where will you be?


I am absolutely thrilled to post this one-shot and hope you enjoy reading it. Horror is one of my favorite genres, yet this story is strangely the first horrific one I published on the site. I've also just returned from a hiatus to recover my creative juices. As the draft of TVB's next chapter is nearing its completion, and after reading creepypastas and watching theory videos on YouTube, I decided to bring this tale to life. Keep in mind that like many of my stories, this one will be particularly dark. If you have a sensitive heart and mind, kindly click away for your own sake.

If you have neither of those things and are down with grim, creepy, and maybe even thought-provoking stuff, enjoy!

* * *

May glanced at her smartphone and read the time displayed. 4:15. The sun was going to set soon, and she was still treading deep within a forest she couldn't name. She could use her phone's GPS to figure out how far she was from the next town. But there was no reception. She was on her own.

The brunette tugged her dark ruby jacket over her chest and shivered. How she wished that there was a motel nearby. Though doubtful it was to have such an establishment in the middle of the woods, she silently yearned for a chance to sit in front of a fireplace with a cup of tea in her hands. Her turtleneck and jeans would stop suffocating her, and her boyfriend instead would supply her a more comfortable warmth.

May's expression wrinkled. Drew. Things haven't been the same since he had disappeared. Traveling no longer interested May, for it was the reason her boyfriend had vanished into thin air. Was he also journeying through a forest? A disclosed cave, perhaps? No one knew. May could only hope at the very least that he was still alive.

The twenty-three-year-old coordinator was so lost in her thoughts that the sound of leaves ruffling in the trees had startled her immensely. May gasped and groaned when she realized that she was in no danger but would have been if she wasn't careful. She had to focus on where she was heading. The path ahead was still undetermined, and the way behind her was too indefinite to go back.

The sun had just disappeared into the horizon when May heard another sound. It was more distinct than the previous one, originating somewhere behind her.

May clutched her bag. "Who's there?"

She scanned the area, but with no remaining sunlight to illuminate her path, she was only greeted by silent shadows. May narrowed her eyes and proceeded to walk backward. If someone or something really were following her, she wouldn't let it catch her off-guard.

That was when something hit the back of her ankles.

May gasped and immediately turned around. When she looked down, she was greeted by a small black creature. It appeared to be a pokémon with bulbous red orbs and dark brown appendages.

"Yamask," the creature chirped. Its pupils dilated at the sight of the woman before him, who slowly began to relax.

"Oh," May sighed. "Well, you don't seem to want to hurt me. What are you?"

The pokémon deflated when she asked that. May didn't take notice of it as she unpocketed her pokédex and read its contents. The pokémon before her was a yamask, a ghost pokémon that held memories of its previous life. Yamasks supposedly possessed masks that resembled their human faces. Strangely enough, the yamask before her was empty-handed.

"Hey," May regarded the pokémon, "where's your mask?"

The desolated pokémon brightened then and beamed at her in what appeared to be hope. It raised its shoulders as if to shrug and then waved at her to follow it.

"Are you," May blinked, "are you asking me to help you find it?"

"Ya," Yamask nodded eagerly.

"Hmm," May crossed her arms. "I'd love to help you, but I have to get out of here. It's getting late, and I don't want to sleep out here in the woods."

Yamask glowered and lowered its head in defeat. May gazed down at it, cringed, and then sighed.

"Okay, I'll help you find it," she relented.

The coordinator simpered when the yamask hopped in glee. She didn't know why she was placing the pokémon's missing piece of identity over her well-being. She reflected on her decision as she and the pokémon began traversing through the woods. A couple of suggestions came to mind, but only one stood prominently over the other. She saw herself in the creature, for she too was looking for something important to her.

Bushes and gravel eventually replaced the trees towering above them. Moonlight barely illuminated the area through the incoming mist, impeding May and Yamask from seeing their surroundings, much less searching for the missing mask. May cursed to herself and tugged her jacket closed.

"We'll have to search in the morning," she spoke. "Do you know a place where we can rest for the night?"

Yamask didn't look pleased with her resignation. It turned around so she wouldn't see it think, and then hopped when it got an idea.

"H-Hey!" May reached out when Yamask scurried ahead of her. The mist above them was extending toward the earth now, making it difficult to see what was even in arm's reach.

Growing worried and afraid, May called out for the missing pokémon. The ghost didn't respond to her at first. But before May could lose hope and summon her own pokémon, the yamask returned with something in its hand. It wasn't the mask that they were looking for, however. It was something May didn't expect, something she purposely avoided being around since her boyfriend disappeared.

A rose.

May cupped her mouth as Yamask extended the flower to her. She didn't want to accept it, but the gesture had filled her with so much yearning, she grasped the thorny plant with tears in her eyes.

"Drew," she whispered.

She took a breath and coughed as a couple of her tears dripped onto the red bud. She gazed at the yamask, who returned her regard with a smile.

"Thank you," May whimpered.

"Yamask," Yamask nodded eagerly.

It then extended a hand to May, which May accepted, before guiding her through the fog. May didn't know where it would take her but wasn't afraid. She was comforted by the weight of the flower clutched in her left hand.

After traveling for a short period of time, May and Yamask stumbled upon a large, peculiar building. The establishment was baby blue with a rounded yellow and white dome as a roof. The entrance possessed no doors to seal what was inside, instead revealing a darkness barely illuminated by the holes on the building's roof.

"What is this doing here?" May neared the edifice.

When she looked into the entrance, she perceived a dimly-lit hallway leading to a larger space within. The space, unlike the passage, was completely engulfed in shadow. Something was lying on the border of its entrance though, something that peeked Yamask's interest.

"Ya," the pokémon tugged her hand forward.

May's eyes widened. "N-No, I can't!" she shook her head. "It's too dark. I'm," she bit her lip, "I'm afraid."

Yamask frowned but not in disappointment. It extended a hand to point at her chest. When May followed its direction, her vision landed on the rose.

Her mouth fell as she raised the rose to her vision. The flower's thorns have pierced her, releasing blood to flow between her fingers. The bud itself remained unmarred, however. So soft, so beautiful.

"You're right," May looked up to the yamask. "How am I supposed to find Drew if I can't even enter a dark building?"

She returned the rose to her chest and clutched it tightly.

"After this, I'm going to find you, Drew," May vowed to the mist. "I don't care how long it takes; you and I _will_ be together again."

But as she followed Yamask inside the building, terrible thoughts filled her mind. What if Drew didn't want to be found? Or worse, he would be found, but in a different state?

Dread filled every part of May's being as she stared at the yamask floating ahead of her. It appeared excited to meet her, gifted her something she loved, and redisplayed the same object to her when she needed to remind herself of what it represented. Who exactly was Yamask in its previous life? Could it be...

Yamask flinched when May started running ahead of it. It followed May to the object at the end of the hallway and watched her pick it up. May held the item with both hands and stared at it with wide, tearful eyes. It was a mask of a face both she and the yamask recognized. But it wasn't Drew's, as May had expected.

It was hers.

"No," everything in May's being began to tremble, "no, how is this...possible?"

When she turned to where the yamask was, she came face to face with a mirror on the wall. Only her reflection didn't reveal her countenance, but a blank canvas where her face was supposed to be. May stumbled back until she stood flat against the other wall. When she looked around, the world outside of the building was gone. The hallway had extended to a neverending distance behind her. In front of her, however, was still the mysterious space. Still concealed in darkness.

May shakily raised the mask back to her vision. The object was stained with blood, and its eye sockets had tears streaming down their openings. May didn't know what was happening but felt like the truth was in the mask, waiting to be unlocked.

The coordinator turned the mask around and glanced at her reflection. A significant part of herself was missing, she thought. It was time to regain it.

May lifted the mask until the article fit perfectly over her face. She gasped when she felt the mask bind to her skin and immediately tried to get it off. But the mask was there to stay, and it placed considerable weight for her to bear.

The coordinator lowered her hands and looked to her left. The area there was no longer in darkness but illuminated with sharp clarity. And so was everything else. May wasn't just in an ordinary building, she recognized. She was in a contest hall.

An accident, she recalled. She and Drew were facing off at the final battle of a contest, and her boyfriend was winning. May tried to get her pokémon to hit Drew's out of the air so the fight could be on even ground. But her partner's flames hit a stage light instead. The lamp disconnected from the ceiling and plummeted toward the ground. Drew's pokémon managed to dodge the flaming device.

But Drew didn't.

Collective gasps and screams could be heard around the contest hall as the man was set into flames. Drew could have rolled on the ground to put the fire out, but the lamp had knocked him unconscious, allowing his body to burn into ashes. Stagehands came in with fire extinguishers as medics tried to keep him alive. But it was too late. To the horror of everyone, including May, Drew was dead.

May croaked as tears streamed down her face. The contest hall was gone now, replaced with the grassy field that was her boyfriend's burial ground. It was an accident, many told her. It wasn't her fault. But it was her fault, May told herself. If she hadn't commanded her pokémon to execute its attack, if she hadn't been so desperate to win, Drew would still be alive.

When the cemetery disappeared, it was replaced by an enclosed area consisting of a small shower stall and a toilet. In front of May were a sink and a cupboard. The person May saw on the cabinet's mirror was someone she didn't recognize. It had short brown hair like her, two blue orbs like her too. But she was different from who May was used to seeing. The locks were tangled and stuck out in various directions, and the irises have dulled a shade or two.

In her hand was a bottle of pills.

May lifted the casing and examined its contents. The sour stench permeating through her nostrils reminded her of vomit, which probably reeked from her stained t-shirt. She had made a choice, she realized. Now she had to make another.

The bottle had almost made it to her lips when May spotted something laying at the left side of the sink. Her eyes widened.

A rose.

She gripped the flower by its thorny stem and raised it beside the bottle. Tears gathered at the edges of her lashes but not because the thorns were hurting her. The rose was always there when she needed it to be, to remind her of the one she loved. She would lose that person from time to time, but the person would always be with her. As long as she didn't let go.

The bottle was placed on the sink.


End file.
